Why do Socialists (including the Left) hate this phrase so much? More specif­i­cally, why do they accuse anyone who uses it of spouting “empty rhetoric?” As if the words don’t have any meaning beyond their political history? The phrase was coined by the AMA back in the ‘30s when it opposed Medicare. The AMA was a very strong opponent of Medicare, and (rightly) asso­ciated the program with Socialism. Socialism was, itself, deeply reviled at the time, sometimes for less than legit­imate reasons (see, e.g., those godless commies). For some reason, modern Leftists (who are really Socialists, all) fly into a spitting fury if [ . . . ]

Read the Rest...

Before watching The Golden Compass, I got to sit through lots of ads and trailers. Citizen Soldier The National Guard has a new and appallingly bad recruiting campaign, featuring a (commis­sioned?) “song” and “music video” by allegedly “popular” alter­native rock band, 3 Doors Down. The video, which is over four minutes long, cuts between shots of the band performing on a blasted heath under a tenebrous sky (complete with bad, fake anamorphic lens flare), shots of National Guard soldiers helping recovery efforts in a disaster area of uncertain origin and locality (complete with obnoxious narrow shutter effect, a.k.a. the Saving Private Ryan Effect), and shots of [ . . . ]

Read the Rest...

Warners made a boo-​​​​boo. Photo c/​​o

According to the AP, Gillian Gibbons has been placed safely on a plane out of Sudan, bound for home. More as story develops. Update: Ms. Gibbons was appar­ently pardoned by Sudan President Omar al-​​​​Bashir after two Muslim members of the UK House of Lords flew to Sudan to negotiate on her behalf. She was pardoned and released to the British embassy in Khartoum, where­after she was booked on every possible flight out of Khartoum, for security purposes. She was taken to the airport in an unmarked car and flew to Dubai, where she boarded a flight to Heathrow. She is due to [ . . . ]

Read the Rest...